WASHINGTON (Oct. 15, 2023) — The North Carolina Courage are headed back to the NWSL Playoffs for the first time since 2021 and will host a playoff match for the first time since 2019 after securing the three-seed with a 1-0 win at the Washington Spirit on CarMax NWSL Decision Day Sunday evening. The Courage finished the regular season with 33 points at 9-7-6 and will host six-seed Gotham next Sunday, October 22, for a quarterfinal at WakeMed Soccer Park. After back-and-forth action for the first 20 minutes, the match took a turn when Trinity Rodman committed a reckless foul on Denise O’Sullivan, incensing the Courage captain. Rodman was originally shown a yellow card, but VAR stepped in and upgraded the card to red, putting the Courage up a player for the third time this season. Just moments later, the Courage would capitalize. A build up the right channel found Manaka in behind the defense, and her rolling cross found Tyler Lussi on the back post, who swiped home the one-timer for the lead. The Courage defense withstood a massive test in the 38’ when a left-wing cross created a scramble in front of goal. Casey Murphy made an outstanding one-on-one save, but the loose ball squeaked through, and a toed ball went rolling towards goal, forcing the Courage defenders to rally to clear the ball off the line. The Courage held a 9-4 lead in shots in the first 45 minutes and carried over 67% of possession to take the 1-0 lead into the break. Washington pressed hard for the equalizer in the second half, seeing the implications of the results from around the league, but the Courage utilized possession and key tackles in the midfield to prevent many dangerous builds as they salted away the match and got the massive three points to stay in third place.

Match Notes

• The Courage set the club and NWSL single-season records for possession, passing accuracy and most successful passes (since OPTA began tracking the stat in 2016)

• The win was the 75th regular season victory in club history, becoming the fourth NWSL team to reach the milestone.

Next Match: The Courage will host Gotham FC for a first-round match-up next Sunday, October 22, at WakeMed Soccer Park. Tickets are on sale now.

Box Score:

NCC (4-3-3): Casey Murphy, Emily Fox, Malia Berkely, Kaleigh Kurtz, Ryan Williams, Narumi Miura, Denise O’Sullivan ©, Tyler Lussi, Manaka Matsukubo (Frankie Tagliaferri – 79’), Kerolin (Brittany Ratcliffe – 64’), Tess Boade (Haley Hopkins – 64’)

Subs Not Used: Katelyn Rowland, Brianna Pinto, Rikke Madsen, Sydney Collins, Mille Gejl, Kiki Pickett

WAS (4-3-3): Aubrey Kingsbury, Gabrielle Carle, Sam Staab, Dorian Bailey, Annaïg Butel, Paige Metayer, Andi Sullivan, Ouleymata Sarr (Camryn Biegalski – 74’), Ashley Sanchez (Amber Brooks – 86’), Trinity Rodman (red card – 23’), Ashley Hatch

Subs Not Used: Lyza Bosselmann, Nicole Barhart, Bayley Feist, Maddie Elwell, Tori Huster, Marissa Sheva, Chloe Ricketts

Score:

NCC: 1

WAS: 0

Goals:

NCC: T. Lussi – 24’ (Manaka)

WAS: –

Cautions:

NCC: B. Ratcliffe – 67’

WAS: A. Butel – 88’

Ejections:

NCC: –

WAS: T. Rodman – 23’

Attendance: 15,479